Poll shows most Americans favor Medicaid expansion

July 31, 2012|Reuters

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) - Most Americans back the ideaof extending health coverage to their low-income neighborsthrough the government's Medicaid program, unless it meanshigher costs for their own state, according to a new poll.

In a survey released on Tuesday by the nonpartisan KaiserFamily Foundation, 67 percent of respondents gave a favorableview of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform provision to"expand the existing Medicaid program to cover more lowincome,uninsured adults."

Support for the idea, which would expand coverage to as manyas 16 million uninsured Americans, broke sharply along partisanlines. Nearly nine out of 10 survey participants who said theywere Democrats and twothirds of independents backed theexpansion. Six out of 10 Republican participants said theyopposed it.

Support dropped to 49 percent when poll participants wereasked whether they would like to see Medicaid expanded in theirhome states, and a slight majority of 52 percent preferredmaintaining the status quo when pollsters suggested an expansioncould cost their states more money.

The results of the poll of 1,227 adults, conducted in July,have a 3 percentage point margin of error.

Medicaid, which is jointly funded by the federal and stategovernments and overseen by Washington, currently covers onlynarrowly defined groups of poor people in most U.S. states,including parents and pregnant women.

Obama's healthcare law, which was upheld as constitutionallast month by the U.S. Supreme Court, would expand Medicaid tocover people with incomes of up to 133 percent of the povertyline. Between 90 percent and 100 percent of the cost of expandedcoverage would be borne by the federal government.

The high court ruling gave states the ability to opt out ofthe Medicaid expansion. Several Republican governors have sincevowed to do just that while deriding the plan as a costlyexpansion of federal bureaucracy.

The governors insist that the expansion will mean highercosts for states and lead to higher taxes or reduced funding forother programs such as education.

Proponents of reform say the Medicaid expansion wouldultimately save money for states, while also saving lives byproviding access to healthcare for those who need it.